We cannot program relationships or discipleship, so we try to think in terms of processes, not programs. Therefore, we think it is best practice to create relational environments to guide relationships through a discipleship process. This simple strategy is summed up in four stages …

• ADOPT – This is the point at which we respond to the Gospel, and it is the “on-ramp” to our process. This is where we adopt Jesus’ words and ways as our own.
  
  

• ABIDE – This stage is focused on our “one-to-one” relationship with God. As we rest in the presence of God, we better allow Him to recreate us in the image of Christ.
  
  

• APPRENTICE – This stage of the discipleship process is focused on our “one-to-some” relationships with other believers in which we learn to live and love like Jesus in community.
  
  

• AMBASSADOR– This stage of the process focuses on our “one-to-many” relationships with people outside our community of faith as we speak the good news of the Gospel into the lives of our family, community and world.
  

We do not necessarily move through the discipleship process sequentially, and we will always be somewhere in the process throughout our journey with Christ on earth. As we grow in our knowledge and relationships, we pass in and out of the various stages of this process.